One of the Oakland Police Department's justifications for using non-lethal weapons on unarmed demonstrators last week was that the protesters were throwing rocks and bottles at them.

But what if it was an undercover cop, within Occupy Oakland, that started the violence?

That's the theory moving around the blogosphere right now, and it doesn't sound that far-fetched.

Since 9/11, law enforcement has become increasingly dependent on infiltrating a target's social circle/group to obtain information that could lead to arrest.

Back in 2003, Oakland's acting police chief, Howard Jordan, had this to say about the policy:

"You don't need to have some sort of skill to be able to infiltrate these groups. If you put the people in there from the beginning, I think we'll be able to gather the information. And maybe direct them to do something we want them to do."

”You don’t need to have some special skill to be able to infiltrate these groups. If you put people in there from the beginning, I think we’ll be able to gather the information. And maybe direct them to do something that wewant them to do.”

”You don’t need to have some special skill to be able to infiltrate these groups. If you put people in there from the beginning, I think we’ll be able to gather the information. And maybe direct them to do something that wewant them to do.”